Shoestring-tip



A. c. LADD.

SHOESTRING TIP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30. 1920 Patented May 17,1921.

WITNESSES argyw ATTORNEYS 11151111211)v STATES ,PATENTOFFICE.

ALLSTON C. LADD, OF TURLOCK, CALIFORNIA.

SHOESTRING-TIP.

Application filed June 30,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLs'roN C. LADD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Turlock, in the county of Stanislaus and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Shoestring-Tip, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in shoe string tips, an object of the invention being to provide an improved means for retaining the shoe string in an eyelet.

With the usual type of string in shoes with eyelets when the string is loosened to take off the shoe the ends of the string or lace slip through the eyelets and have to be re-laced when the shoe is again worn. With my invention the shoe string catches in the upper eyelet of the shoe and the rest of the string can be loosened without pulling the ends of the string out of the upper eyelet.

A further object is to provide an im proved tip of this kind which may be used with either round or fiat shoe laces and which will be practical and durable in use, and comparatively cheap to manufacture.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts as will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe and a string in the shoe with my improved tip attached.

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the ti Fig. 3 is a view in longitudinal section of the tip.

Fig. 4 is a view mainly in longitudinal section illustrating a modification.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the ti illustrated in Fig. 4 in use with a shoe.

Referring in detail to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, 1 represents a shoe having eyelets 2 therein, 3 represents a shoe string with my improved tips 4 attached. Each tip 4 is made in the usual manner by bend- Speeification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 17, 1921.

1920. Serial No. 392,983.

ing a thin sheet of metal or other material tlghtly around the string and securing the same in place n any approved manner, but instead of havlng the inner end of the tip 4 fitting snugly around the string 3 one side of the inner end of the tip is extended and flared outwardly to form a tongue 5 on the tip as shown clearly in Fig. 3.

While the string may be readily inserted through the eyelets when lacing the shoe, the tongue 5 of the tip not then being an obstruction, yet when the string is drawn n the opposite direction, as when loosen- 1ng the shoe string in the eyelets, the outflaring tongue catches on the eyelet or outer face of the shoe as shown in Fig. 1, preventing the accidental withdrawal of the string, for the purpose above noted.

It will be readily seen that the tip is not limited to use with the round string illustrated, but may be used to advantage on other kinds of shoe strings.

Fig. 4: illustrates a modification wherein a fiat or tubular string 6 is provided with substantially U-shaped lengths of bent and bendable metal inserts 7 secured in the ends of the string to form tips which by reason of their shape will operate like the preferred form of tip to prevent accidental removal of the tips.

Fig. 5 illustrates a shoe string of the round type applied to a shoe and equipped with tips similar to those above described in connection with Fig. 4.

The bent tips of the strings illusrtated in Figs. 4; and 5 serve the same purpose as the tongue 5 illustrated in the first three figures of the drawings. They prevent the accidental withdrawal of the shoe string from the upper eyelet of the shoe while the string is being loosened to permit the removal of the shoe from the foot of the wearer.

While I have illustrated the invention in connection with low shoes, obviously the tips could be used equally as well for high shoes, and it is also apparent that various slight changes and alterations might be made in the general form of the parts described without departing from my invention, and hence I do not limit myself to the precise details set forth, but consider myself at liberty to make such slight changes and alterations as fairly fall Within the spirit 5 and scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

As a new article of manufacture, a shoe string, tips on the outside of the ends of the shoe string, integral spring tongues on the tips facilitating the movement of the string through an eyelet in one direction and preventing the accidental retrograde movement of the string through an eyelet.

ALLSTON C. LADD. 

